Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram grooming becoming 'quicker and easier
Experts are urging parents to talk to their children amid warnings social media grooming is becoming and than ever before.
Experts are urging parents to talk to their children amid warnings social media grooming is becoming and than ever before.
Childline said Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram were the top platforms children named in counselling about online sexual abuse last year.
Avon and Somerset Police's child exploitation prevention officer Andri Nicolau said children as young as five can be targeted through social media, gaming and messaging platforms.
The warning comes after three men were jailed for grooming a 17-year-old girl on Snapchat before raping her.
Research by the NSPCC found sexual communication offences involving children in the South West have more than doubled since the offence was introduced seven years ago, to 756 in 2024/25.
Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: "It's deeply disturbing that hundreds of children have come to us in the past year alone, disclosing experiences of online sexual abuse linked to these popular apps and platforms.
Criminals try to extort or blackmail their victims by threatening to publish the images, which have often been taken by the child themselves.
Nicolau urged parents to talk to their children and not take away devices or ban them from platforms, warning this could make them feel they were to blame.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said there has been a sharp rise in the number of young people contacting its confidential Report Remove helpline because they fear sexual images of themselves have been shared, or could be shared, online.
She works with schools to inform children how to be safe online, but said they are often unaware of the risks, including not viewing people they meet online as strangers and expecting them to be from the start.
New data suggests that this particular form of exploitation of children, known as 'sextortion', has also reached record levels.
Nicolau said children spending more time online meant they were increasingly vulnerable to grooming, which is and than ever before.
James Simmons-Read, who leads the Children's Society national exploitation prevention programme, said there are about the growing scale of child sexual abuse and exploitation online.
A Meta spokesperson said: "This includes restricting contact between adults and teens they're not connected to, and using technology to find and remove known child exploitation imagery.
What happened
Experts are urging parents to talk to their children amid warnings social media grooming is becoming and than ever before.
Childline said Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram were the top platforms children named in counselling about online sexual abuse last year.
Avon and Somerset Police's child exploitation prevention officer Andri Nicolau said children as young as five can be targeted through social media, gaming and messaging platforms.
What changed
The warning comes after three men were jailed for grooming a 17-year-old girl on Snapchat before raping her.
Research by the NSPCC found sexual communication offences involving children in the South West have more than doubled since the offence was introduced seven years ago, to 756 in 2024/25.
Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: "It's deeply disturbing that hundreds of children have come to us in the past year alone, disclosing experiences of online sexual abuse linked to these popular apps and platforms.
Who is affected
Criminals try to extort or blackmail their victims by threatening to publish the images, which have often been taken by the child themselves.
Nicolau urged parents to talk to their children and not take away devices or ban them from platforms, warning this could make them feel they were to blame.
Why it matters
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said there has been a sharp rise in the number of young people contacting its confidential Report Remove helpline because they fear sexual images of themselves have been shared, or could be shared, online.
She works with schools to inform children how to be safe online, but said they are often unaware of the risks, including not viewing people they meet online as strangers and expecting them to be from the start.
Technical details
New data suggests that this particular form of exploitation of children, known as 'sextortion', has also reached record levels.
Nicolau said children spending more time online meant they were increasingly vulnerable to grooming, which is and than ever before.
James Simmons-Read, who leads the Children's Society national exploitation prevention programme, said there are about the growing scale of child sexual abuse and exploitation online.
Response
A Meta spokesperson said: "This includes restricting contact between adults and teens they're not connected to, and using technology to find and remove known child exploitation imagery.
She urged parents to encourage kids to ask for help without fear of blame or punishment.
What security teams should do
Of those, 300 were recorded by Avon and Somerset Police, 96 by Gloucestershire Constabulary and 61 by Wiltshire Police.
The charity also said Snapchat was mentioned in 324 counselling sessions about online sexual abuse between April 2025 and March 2026, a 19% increase on the previous year.
Attribution
BBC News: Experts are urging parents to talk to their children amid warnings social media grooming is becoming "quicker" and "easier" than ever before.
What to watch next
Watch for additional victim details, indicators of compromise and follow-on exploitation reports.